Afghanistan launches fresh anti-polio drive

Afghanistan kicked off a fresh vaccination campaign against polio on Monday, the latest in the fight against the infectious disease, said the Public Health Ministry.

Starting from Monday, the drive will target 5.6 million children under five years across the country, the ministry said in a statement.

"The campaign is carried out by around 25,000 trained vaccinators and it runs for four days with an additional day on Friday for vaccinators to revisit children who were missed when the vaccinators first visited," the statement reads.

The number of polio cases recorded in the militancy-hit country has risen to eight so far this year after a fresh case was confirmed in Barmal district of the eastern Paktika province recently while some cases were detected in eastern Kunar and southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces.

"Wherever children are not immunized, children's lives are at risk everywhere in Afghanistan. We urge all caregivers to vaccinate their children against polio because the polio vaccine is the only way to protect children from permanent paralysis and even death," Minister of Public Health Ferozuddin Feroz was quoted as saying.

The ongoing insurgency and conflicts have been hindering the efforts to stamp out the disease in the mountainous country.

A four-day nation-wide polio campaign was carried out in mid last month.

"Afghanistan remains one of the three polio-endemic countries together with Pakistan and Nigeria," reads the statement. Enditem